Multicast handover for mobile communications

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide efficient multicast handover for content delivery to client devices in multi-carrier communications systems. For example, client devices in a transport craft can consume a media channel offering via a first carrier during transport through the communications system. Embodiments can establish respective multicast groups for the media channel offering in at least the first carrier and a subsequent second carrier, and can notify the craft of the multicast groups prior to the craft being serviced by the second carrier. Such pre-notification can permit multicast handover of the media channel offering from the first carrier to the second carrier in a manner that avoids typical handover-related. For example, embodiments can direct multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the craft in accordance with the first multicast group while being serviced by the first carrier and in accordance with the second multicast group while being serviced by the second.

FIELD

Embodiments relate generally to communications systems, and, moreparticularly, to providing fast multicast handover to in-transportterminals moving through a multi-carrier communications system.

BACKGROUND

As usage of the Internet evolves, there has tended to be an increasingprevalence of high-data rate applications, such as streaming video. Theability of communications service providers to serve consumers withdata-intensive content can be limited by variations in capacity anddemand across the communications infrastructure. For example, networkresource demand can spike during peak usage times of day, capacity incertain regions can be impacted by weather (e.g., rain fade, etc.),consumers in certain regions may have access to differentinfrastructures (e.g., fiber, satellite, etc.), and/or the ability tomeet demand can change based on other conditions.

It is becoming more common for users to desire to consume streamingmedia while in transit (e.g., on mobile devices, like mobile phones,laptop computers, tablet computers, integrated media terminals, or otherin-transport terminals; and/or in context of a car, airplane, bus,cruise ship, or other transport craft). Maintaining provision ofcommunications services to mobile terminals can involve handing off theconnection with the content provider network among multiple wirelesslinks (e.g., multiple spot beams or cells), contending with changingconnection quality (e.g., as a terminal changes its position relative tospot beams or cells, to sources of interference, etc.), adapting tochanging network resource supply and/or demand (e.g., user demand in aparticular spot beam coverage area at a particular time, etc.), andother difficulties. These and other attributes of in-transport contentdelivery can frustrate the network's ability to maintain quality ofservice to the mobile terminals, particularly in context of aircraftand/or other transport craft that tend to travel over a relatively largearea of the network in a relatively short time.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Among other things, systems and methods are described for providingefficient multicast handover for delivery of content to in-transportterminals in multi-carrier communications systems. Embodiments operatein context of mobile terminals (e.g., client devices) consumingmulticast media channel offerings as they move through a communicationsinfrastructure having a number of carriers (e.g., beams, cells, etc.).During transport, the terminals may be serviced over time by multiplecarriers, which can involve handing over servicing of the terminalsamong those carriers. Typically, effecting such multicast handovers caninvolve a number of steps, including, for example, detecting entry intoa new carrier, establishing communications between the terminals and thenew carrier, setting up multicasting of the media channel offering inthe new carrier, and directing the terminals to join the new multicastto continue receiving the media channel offering.

Conventional approaches tend to wait until a terminal is serviced by anew carrier before establishing a multicast group in that new carrier.Establishing the multicast group can involve vying for network and/orcomputing resources that may be shared by other functions, on exchangingcommunications over links that have latency (e.g., there can be atypical roundtrip time of approximately 500 milliseconds incommunications via a geosynchronous satellite), and/or on other resourcelimitations. These and other factors can tend to cause delay betweenentering a new carrier and beginning to receive multicast communicationsvia the new carrier, and the delay can impact quality of service to theterminals.

When one or more in-transport terminals (e.g., client devices in atransport craft) are determined to be consuming a multicast mediachannel offering, embodiments can establish respective multicast groupsto support communication of the media channel offering in each ofmultiple carriers. For example, the multiple multicast groups caninclude a first multicast group of the media channel offering for afirst carrier (e.g., a carrier presently servicing one or more terminalsconsuming the media channel offering) and a second multicast group ofthe media channel offering for a second carrier (e.g., a carrier thatmay subsequently service the one or more terminals consuming the mediachannel offering). The terminals can be notified of the establishedmulticast groups prior to being serviced by the second carrier (e.g.,and/or prior to being serviced by the first carrier). For example,establishing the multicast groups can involve allocating multicastresources to those carriers for the media channel offering, and theterminals can be notified of those allocated resources. According tosuch pre-notification, upon handover of the terminals to a new carrier,the terminals can begin receiving multicast communication of the mediachannel offering via a pre-established multicast group in the newcarrier in accordance with the identity (and/or other attributes) of thepre-established multicast group received by the terminals prior to entryinto the new carrier (i.e., by prior notification). As such, theterminals' multicast handover can be performed without waiting forestablishment of multicast groups at the time of the handover, therebyavoiding typical multicast handover-related delays.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appendedfigures:

FIG. 1 shows a simplified diagram of a satellite communications system,which provides a context for various embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows a simplified diagram of a portion of a multi-carriercommunications system, according to various embodiments;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative communications environment in which atransport craft is traveling along a transport path through multiplecarrier coverage areas of a multi-carrier communications system;

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method for setting up newmulticast groups for use in implementing efficient multicast handover ofa media channel offering, according to various embodiments;

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method for providingmedia channel offerings over pre-established multicast groups, accordingto various embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method for handling amulticast handover using pre-established multicast groups, according tovarious embodiments; and

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method for multicasthandover in a multi-carrier communications system, according to variousembodiments.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features can have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type canbe distinguished by following the reference label by a second label thatdistinguishes among the similar components. If only the first referencelabel is used in the specification, the description is applicable to anyone of the similar components having the same first reference labelirrespective of the second reference label.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, onehaving ordinary skill in the art should recognize that the invention canbe practiced without these specific details. In some instances,circuits, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail toavoid obscuring the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a simplified diagram of a satellite communications system100, which provides a context for various embodiments. May otherconfigurations are possible having more or fewer components than thesatellite communications system 100 of FIG. 1. In the illustratedembodiment, the satellite communications system 100 includes a transportcraft 110 in communication with one or more content server(s) 180 via asatellite 105, a gateway 150, and a network 160. The gateway 150 caninclude, and/or be in communication with, a provider media multicastsystem (PMMS) 140.

The transport craft 110 can include a two-way communication system 112to facilitate bidirectional communication with the satellite 105. In theillustrated embodiment, the two-way communication system includes anantenna system 170, transceiver 172, modem 174, network access unit 176,wireless access point (WAP) 176, and in-transport media multicast system(ITMMS) 130. The two-way communication system 112 can provide forreception of a forward downlink signal from the satellite 105 andtransmission of a return uplink signal to the satellite 105 to supporttwo-way data communications between client devices 120 within thetransport craft 110 and the content server(s) 180. The client devices120 can include mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, tablets,netbooks, and the like) such as personal electronic devices (PEDs)brought onto the transport craft 110 by passengers. As further examples,the client devices 120 can include passenger seat back systems or otherdevices on the transport craft 110. The client devices 120 cancommunicate with the network access unit 176 via a communication linkthat can be wired and/or wireless. The communication link can be, forexample, part of a local area network such as a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) support by WAP 178. One or more WAPs 178 can bedistributed about the transport craft 110, and can, in conjunction withnetwork access unit 176, provide traffic switching and routingfunctionality; for example, as part of a WLAN extended service set(ESS), etc.

In operation, the network access unit 176 can provide uplink datareceived from the client devices 120 to the modem 174 to generatemodulated uplink data (e.g., a transmit intermediate frequency (IF)signal) for delivery to the transceiver 172. The transceiver 172 canupconvert and then amplify the modulated uplink data to generate thereturn uplink signal for transmission to the satellite 105 via theantenna system 170. Similarly, the transceiver 172 can receive theforward downlink signal from the satellite 105 via the antenna system170. The transceiver 172 can amplify and downconvert the forwarddownlink signal to generate modulated downlink data (e.g., a receive IFsignal) for demodulation by the modem 174. The demodulated downlink datafrom the modem 174 can be provided to the network access unit 176 forrouting to the client devices 120. The modem 174 can be integrated withthe network access unit 176, or can be a separate component in someexamples.

As described in more detail below, the ITMMS 130 can provide commands tothe network access unit 176 to manage and distribute media channelofferings to the client devices 120 using the techniques describedherein. The ITMMS 130 can provide for on-board media distribution andcan include one or more media servers, media storage devices, etc. Thefunctions of the ITMMS 130 can be implemented in hardware, instructionsembodied in memory and formatted to be executed by one or more generalor application-specific processors, firmware, or any combinationthereof. In the illustrated embodiment, the ITMMS 130 is shown as aseparate device. Alternatively, some or all of the components orfeatures of the ITMMS 130 can be implemented within one or more othercomponents of the two-way communication system 112. The network accessunit 176 can also allow the client devices 120 to access one or moreadditional servers (not shown) local to the transport craft 110, such asa server storing media channels that provide in-flight entertainment.

In the illustrated embodiment, the transport craft 110 is an airplane.Alternatively, the transport craft 110 may be other than an airplane,such as a train, bus, cruise ship, etc. As illustrated, media can beobtained from the content server(s) 180 via network 160 and gateway 150(and/or other ground terminals or other network nodes). The network 160can be any type of network and can include for example, the Internet, anIP network, an intranet, a wide area network (WAN), local area network(LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), a virtual LAN (VLAN), a fiberoptic network, a cable network, a public switched telephone network(PSTN), a public switched data network (PSDN), a public land mobilenetwork, and/or any other type of network supporting communication asdescribed herein. The network 160 can include both wired and wirelessconnections as well as optical links.

The content server(s) 180 can be accessible via the satellite 105 in anysuitable architecture. For example, media content (e.g., audio and/orvideo media) can be generated by the content server(s) 180, stored atthe content server(s) 180, and/or received by the content server(s) 180via network 160; and the content server(s) 180 may be located at thegateway 150, core node, or any other suitable location of thecommunications infrastructure. The media content can be communicatedfrom the content server(s) 180 to the client devices 120 (e.g., inresponse to requests for such media from the client devices 120), whilein flight, via the satellite 105 and the ITMMS 130. Although only onecontent server 180 is shown to avoid over complication of the drawing,the media received by the client devices 120 may be from one or morecontent server(s) 180 in one or more locations. In embodiments describedherein, the media content is provided in response to requests for suchcontent from the client devices 120. In alternative embodiments, themedia content may be provided without an explicit request for suchcontent by the client devices 120, such as because of the association ofthe client devices 120 with transport craft 110. For example, the mediacontent may be “broadcast” to the transport craft 110, regardless ofwhether any particular client device 110 is presently requesting and/orconsuming the media content.

Embodiments are described in context of multi-carrier communicationssystems, which generally include any suitable communications environmentin which mobile terminal communications can be serviced by multiplecarriers as the terminal travels through the network. For example, oneor more transport craft(s) 110 can include airplanes, trains, buses,cruise ships, etc.; and any or all such transport craft(s) 110 cancommunicate via any one or more suitable communications architecture(s)including any suitable communications links, such as satellitecommunications systems, air-to-ground communication systems, hybridsatellite and air-to-ground communications systems, cellularcommunications systems, etc.

Typically, because of the mobile nature of the transport craft 110, thecommunications architecture will likely involve at least one wirelesscommunications link. Such wireless links can be generally referred to as“carriers,” which can include any suitable type of communications linkhaving any suitable one or more frequencies, phases, polarizations, etc.For example, a communication with a particular carrier can involvecommunicating over a respective wireless link using a particularfrequency, polarization, etc. The communications system architecture canuse multiple carriers to provide various features, including servicing alarge service area made up of multiple carrier coverage areas (e.g.,spot beam coverage areas, cell coverage areas, etc.). Carrier coverageareas can partially or fully overlap, so that certain geographic regionsare serviced (e.g., concurrently) by multiple carriers. As the transportcraft 110 moves through the communications network, it can move throughmultiple carrier coverage areas, so that communications services can beprovided to the transport craft 110 via different carriers over time.For example, during a transatlantic or international airplane flight,the airplane, and the client devices 120 of passengers on the airplane,may move through a number of carrier coverage areas, and the differentcarriers servicing those coverage areas can be used over time tomaintain communications with the transport craft 110 over a largegeographic region covered during transport (e.g., the traversed regionis larger than a single carrier coverage area), and/or to provide otherfeatures, such as facilitating load balancing across multiple carriers,grouping of terminals by carrier, etc. As described herein, movingtransport crafts 110 among carriers can involve “handover” ofcommunications services between those carriers.

Notably, such handovers can arise from operating in context ofmulti-beam communications systems that have relatively large numbers ofbeams (e.g., to exploit frequency reuse and/or for other reasons) andwhere reliable multicast is desired. For example, suppose thecommunications system includes tens or hundreds of carriers, and contentwere multicast using a single multicast group. Even if only the clientdevices in a single carrier fail to receive some of the multicastcontent (e.g., lost packets), ensuring reliable multicast can involveretransmitting the missed data across all the carriers (since themulticast group spans all the carriers). Accordingly, some embodimentsdescribed herein assume per-carrier multicast groups. With such anapproach, reliable multicast can be implemented with localizedretransmission of missed data only to those carriers where data was notreceived. However, with such an approach, a client device may be unableto stay in a multicast group as it moves into a new carrier. As such, acarrier handover can involve a multicast handover.

While those client devices 120 move through multiple carriers of themulti-carrier communications system 100, users may consumecommunications services (e.g., streaming media, otherwise receivingcontent, etc.). In some instances, the client devices 120 may consumemedia channel offerings (e.g., audio and/or video media linearprogramming, non-linear programming such as on demand audio and/or videomedia such as movies and television programs, other types of media,etc.) provided by one or more content servers 180, and the media channelofferings can be multicast to facilitate consumption by multiple clientdevices 120 within the transport craft 110 and possibly other terminalsserviced by the same carrier. In some such instances, users desire tocontinue consuming multicast media channel offerings, regardless ofwhether their client devices 120 are being serviced by multiple carriers(e.g., as the transport craft 110 carrying the client devices 120 movesthrough multiple carriers). Embodiments provide novel techniques forfast handover of multicast communications among multiple carriers in amanner that seeks to avoid handover-related delays, which can otherwiseimpact media consumption experience during such handovers. As usedherein, “linear programming” generally refers to any stream of contentthat is scheduled for delivery at a certain time (e.g., a televisionshow run at a set time, live event, etc.). For example, by selecting alinear programming media channel offering, a user effectively elects toconsume whatever scheduled media is playing on that channel at thattime.

For example, the multi-carrier communications system 100 typically maynot have sufficient resources to individually satisfy all mediaconsumption demand for all client devices 120 (e.g., using uniqueunicast communications). Instead, embodiments exploit multicastcommunications to effectively share the resources used to communicateeach media channel offering among multiple client devices 120 that areall consuming the same media channel offering and are all being servicedby the same carrier (i.e., permitting them all to “listen” to the samemulticast communication). When any or all of those client devices 120moves to a new carrier, they can no longer listen to the previouscarrier's multicast group. As such, unless and until they join a newmulticast group in the new carrier (i.e., until there is a multicasthandover), they will have lost their ability to consume the mediachannel offering. Any multicast handover-related delay can cause a breakin the availability of a media channel offering while a new multicastgroup is established in a newly entered carrier, which can manifest asan interruption in media service to those consuming client devices 120.For example, in the middle of watching a movie, the movie could simplybecome unavailable.

As described herein, embodiments provide fast handover by coordinatingamong multiple client-side (i.e., transport craft-side) andprovider-side systems, illustrated as the PMMS 140 and the ITMMS 130, toeffectively pre-establish multicast groups on multiple carriers before ahandover is invoked. The PMMS 140 can be implemented as one or morecomputational platforms in communication with provider-side nodes of themulti-beam communications system (e.g., one implementation of the PMMS140 can be directly or indirectly in communication with a gateway 150,core node, or any other suitable node of the provider-sidecommunications infrastructure). The ITMMS 130 can be implemented as oneor more computational platforms in communication with client-side nodesof the multi-beam communications system (e.g., one implementation of theITMMS 130 can be directly or indirectly in communication with one ormore transport crafts 110, one or more client devices 120, or any othersuitable node of the client-side communications infrastructure. Whilevarious functionality is described as being performed by the PMMS 140 orthe ITMMS 130, such descriptions are not intended to be limiting (e.g.,certain functions of the PMMS 140 can alternatively be performed by theITMMS 130, and certain functions of the ITMMS 130 can alternatively beperformed by the PMMS 140).

FIG. 2 shows a simplified diagram of a portion of a multi-carriercommunications system 200, according to various embodiments. Thecommunications system 200 can be an implementation of the communicationssystem 100 described with reference to FIG. 1. The illustratedcommunications system 200 includes an illustrative provider-side node250 (e.g., representing one or more of a number of gateways, core nodes,etc.) that provides communications services via one or more satellites105 to an illustrative transport craft 110 (e.g., representing one ofmultiple transport craft 110 being serviced by the communications system200). The transport craft 110 has multiple client devices 120 disposedtherein. The provider-side node 250 can be in communication with one ormore content servers 180 via one or more networks 160, and the contentserver(s) 180 can provide media channel offerings to the client devices120 via the communications system 200.

For the sake of providing context to embodiments, it is assumed that atleast one of the client devices 120 on the transport craft 110 isconsuming a media channel offering from a content source 180, and themedia channel offering is being multicast to the transport craft 110 viaone of multiple carriers of the communications system 200. As describedabove, the client device 120 can potentially be serviced (e.g., via thetransport craft 110) by multiple carriers of the communications system200 over multiple timeframes (e.g., over the course of a trip). In someinstances, it can be desirable to keep multicasting the media channeloffering to the client device 120, even as communications services forthe transport craft 110 are handed over between carriers. Further, itcan be desirable to ensure that the handover is transparent to the enduser, so that consumption of the media channel offering is notinterrupted or otherwise impacted during the handover.

As illustrated, embodiments of the PMMS 140 can include a multicastserver 245 (“MCS”) and a media provider manager 240 (“MPM”). The mediaprovider manager 240 can establish multicast groups for the mediachannel offering. For example, assuming the transport craft 110 ismoving through at least a first carrier and a second carrier, the mediaprovider manager 240 can establish at least a first multicast group ofthe media channel offering for the first carrier and a second multicastgroup of the media channel offering for the second carrier. As usedherein, a “multicast group” can be any suitable multicast channel thatcan be allocated and identified for a carrier. In some implementations,each multicast group corresponds to a multicast service data flowidentified by a multicast flow identifier. In other implementations(e.g., where the number of multicast flow identifiers is limited by thearchitecture), each multicast flow identifier can include multiple groupaddresses, and each multicast group corresponds to (and is identifiedby) one of the group addresses in one of the multicast flow identifierin the carrier.

Establishing the multicast groups can involve allocating multicastresources for provision of the media channel offering in each respectivecarrier. For example, the allocated multicast resources can define anyof a carrier identifier, a multicast flow identifier, a control channeladdress, a data channel address, etc. In some implementations,establishing the multicast group can include commencing (or continuing)multicasting of the media channel offering in accordance with theallocated resources. Some embodiments of the media provider manager 240can determine whether a carrier is already multicasting the mediachannel offering and can establish the multicast group only when thecarrier is not already multicasting the media channel offering.Alternatively, when the carrier is already multicasting the mediachannel offering (e.g., to another transport craft 110), theestablishing can include identifying the multicast resources being usedfor the multicasting (e.g., determining the already in-use carrieridentifier, a multicast flow identifier, etc.).

In some implementations, the media provider manager 240 can determine,in response to receiving a content request from the client device 120,that the content request is for a media channel offering. As oneexample, the media provider manager 240 can determine that the requestis for one of a number of pre-identified media channel offerings (e.g.,a media provider offers thirty media channels for consumption bypassengers on an aircraft). As another example, the media providermanager 240 determines that the request invokes a certain type ofcontent that indicates it is a media channel offering (e.g., the contentis of a certain file type, from a certain content source 180, taggedwith certain metadata, accessed through a certain portal, etc.).

Embodiments of the media provider manager 240 can establish one or moreof the multicast groups before or after determining that the contentrequest is for a media channel offering. In some implementations, themedia provider manager 240 determines that the content request is for amedia channel offering while the transport craft 110 is being servicedby the first carrier. In response to the determination, the mediaprovider manager 240 can establish the multicast groups in at least thefirst carrier and a second carrier. In some such implementations, themedia provider manager 240 can further predict whether the transportcraft 110 is likely still to be consuming the media channel offeringsubsequent to a handover (e.g., which can involve determining how longthe transport craft 110 is predicted to be serviced by one or moreparticular carriers). For example, where the media channel offering is alinearly programmed channel (e.g., a television channel), the durationof the programming may extend appreciably beyond the duration duringwhich the transport craft 110 is predicted to be serviced by the presentcarrier. In contrast, where the media channel offering is a sportingevent, or the like, the predicted or scheduled end of the media offeringmay be longer or shorter than the duration in which the transport craft110 is predicted to be serviced by the present carrier. Embodiments mayestablish multiple multicast groups for the media channel offering onlywhen it is determined that the duration of the media programming mayextend beyond the duration in which the transport craft 110 is predictedto be serviced by the present carrier. In still other implementations,the media provider manager 240 can establish one or more of themulticast groups prior to (e.g., decoupled from) determining that thecontent request is for a media channel offering. For example, inimplementations having a predetermined set of channel offerings,multicast groups can be established for some or all of the channelofferings in some or all carriers.

Further, the carriers in which embodiments of the media provider manager240 establishes the multicast groups can be determined in any suitablemanner. In some implementations, for each media channel offering,multicast groups are established in all carriers of the multi-carriercommunications system 200. In other implementations, multicast groupsare established in a subset of carriers. In some such implementations,the subset is determined geographically, for example, according toregional nature of the programming (e.g., local news or sports,programming in a particular language, etc.), rights (e.g., regionaldistribution rights), etc. In other such implementations, the subset isdetermined according to present location of the transport craft(s) 110consuming the media channel offering. For example, the subset ofcarriers can be determined as some or all of the carriers adjacent tothe carrier presently servicing each transport craft 110 consuming themedia channel offering. In still other such implementations, the subsetis determined according to a transport path of one or more transportcraft 110 consuming the media channel offering. For example, a transportcraft 110 can travel according to a predetermined transport path (e.g.,a scheduled aircraft flight path defined according to a city pair,route, etc.). As illustrated, some implementations of the PMMS 140 caninclude a transport path predictor 243 that can predict some or all of atransport path for a transport craft 110 (e.g., based on city pair,trajectory, flight schedules, trends, etc.). Having determined (and/orpredicted) a transport path, the subset of carriers can be determined asN next carriers along the transport path, all next carriers along thetransport path, carriers along the transport path plus carriers adjacentthereto, etc. In some implementations, the subset of carriers is updatedperiodically, dynamically, and/or in any suitable manner at any suitabletime.

For the sake of illustration, FIG. 3 shows an illustrativecommunications environment 300 in which a transport craft 110 istraveling along a transport path 310 through multiple carrier coverageareas 320 of a multi-carrier communications system. As illustrated, thetransport craft 110 is in (or is predicted to be in) first, second,third, and fourth carrier coverage areas 320 (i.e., and serviced byfirst, second, third, and fourth carriers, respectively) during first,second, third, and fourth timeframes 330. As described above, in someimplementations, the transport craft 110 may move between carriers forother reasons (e.g., in response to carrier failure or congestion, touse a carrier with a better present link condition, to facilitate clientgrouping, etc.). Each time the transport craft 110 moves to a newcarrier, the transport craft 110 can be “handed over” to the newcarrier, for example, by setting up a new communications channel anddirecting the transport craft 110 to join the new channel. The transportpath 310 can represent an actual or predicted transport path 310. Asillustrated, in some timeframes 330, the transport craft 110 can bewithin multiple carrier coverage areas 320 (e.g., where they overlap),such that it may be unpredictable exactly which carrier will beservicing the transport craft 110 at all times. Further, in some cases,a change in the transport path 310 (e.g., where the prediction isincorrect, where the flight path changes due to weather, etc.) can causea change in which carrier is servicing the transport craft 110 at aparticular timeframe 330. Accordingly, some implementations canestablish multicast groups in carriers servicing adjacent carriercoverage areas 320 (e.g., carrier coverage area 320 e is outside of, butadjacent to, the transport path 310).

Turning back to FIG. 2, embodiments of the media provider manager 240can notify the transport craft 110 of the established multicast groupsprior to a handover. For example, if first and second multicast groupsare established for first and second carriers, respectively, while thetransport craft 110 is being serviced by a first carrier, embodimentscan notify the transport craft 110 of both multicast groups before thereis a handover to the second carrier. In some embodiments, the mediaprovider manager 240 notifies the transport craft 110 of some or all ofthe multicast groups prior to the transport craft 110 being servicedeven by the first carrier. For example, in implementations having apredetermined set of media channel offerings, multicast groups can bepre-established for some or all of the channel offerings in some or allcarriers, and the transport craft 110 can be notified of some or all ofthose pre-established multicast groups, accordingly.

The media provider manager 240 can notify the transport craft 110 of themulticast groups in any suitable manner. In some implementations, themedia provider manager 240 can notify the transport craft 110 of some orall of the multicast groups by communicating a unicast and/or multicastmessage to the transport craft 110 that identifies the multicastgroup(s). In other implementations, the media provider manager 240 cannotify the transport craft 110 of some or all of the multicast groups bycommunicating an announcement message to the transport craft 110 over acontrol channel. For example, the carrier can provide multiple channelsof communications (e.g., concurrently) to the transport craft 110,including one or more unicast channels, one or more multicast channels,and one or more control channels; and one of the control channels can beused for notifying the transport craft 110 of one or more of themulticast groups.

Having notified the transport craft 110 of the pre-established multicastgroups for the media channel offering being consumed, multicastcommunications with the transport craft 110 can be handed over inaccordance with the pre-established multicast groups (i.e., withouthaving to establish a new multicast group in a new carrier at the timeof the handoff). For example, as client devices 120 in the transportcraft 110 request the media channel offering (e.g., by requesting files,byte ranges, etc.), embodiments of the multicast server 245 canmulticast the relevant portions of the media channel offering inresponse to those requests. While the transport craft 110 is beingserviced by a first carrier, embodiments of the multicast server 245 candirect multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transportcraft 110 in accordance with a first multicast group (pre-established inassociation with the first carrier). When the transport craft 110becomes serviced by a second carrier, embodiments of the multicastserver 245 can direct multicast delivery of the media channel offeringto the transport craft 110 in accordance with a second multicast group(pre-established in association with the first carrier). For example,the multicast server 245 can detect that servicing of the transportcraft is handed over from the first carrier to the second carrier, themulticast server 245 can direct the transport craft 110 to join thesecond multicast group in response to the detecting. By notifying thetransport craft 110 of the second multicast group prior to being handedover to the second carrier, the transport craft 110 can begincommunicating (i.e., receiving multicast communications) over the secondcarrier substantially immediately upon handover without having to waitfor setup and joining of a new multicast group. For example, uponhanding over, the transport path 310 (and/or the client devices 120presently consuming the media channel offering) can substantiallyimmediately be able to join the control channel and any applicable datachannels on the new carrier (e.g., according to a Media Access Controldestination address (MACD)), without having to wait for particularmessaging (e.g., a “configureCache” message for a control channel, an“announcement” message for a data channel, etc.) from another networknode that sets up the multicast streams.

As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the transport craft 110 caninclude an in-transport media multicast system (ITMMS) 130. Embodimentsof the ITMMS 130 can coordinate and communicate with the PMMS 140 toeffect various media functions, including techniques described hereinfor multicast handover of media channel offerings. As illustrated, theITMMS 130 can include a multicast cache server 220 (“MCCS”), a mediaclient manager 230 (“MCM”), and a multicast client 235 (“MCC”). Themulticast cache server 220 can include, and/or be in communication with,a multicast cache 225. The multicast cache 225 can be implemented usingany suitable type of machine-readable storage media. For example, themulticast cache 225 can include one or more data servers, solid statememory, hard disk drives, removable storage, shared storage, etc. Insome implementations, each client device 120 can have its own multicastcache 225 (or can contribute as a portion of the multicast cache 225associated with a transport craft 110), for example, as acomputer-readable medium coupled with, or integrated into, the clientdevice 120. In other implementations, the multicast cache 225 can becoupled with, or integrated into, a transport craft 110 (e.g., the ITMMS130), which is then in communication with one or more client devices120. Embodiments of the media client manager 230 can detect which typesof content requests are being issued by client devices 120 (e.g.,requests for media channel offerings versus requests for other types ofcontent), and can handle media requests, as appropriate, for specialhandling (e.g., multicast handling with efficient multicast handover,etc.). Embodiments of the multicast client 235 can receive media channeloffering requests from the media client manager 230 and convert them forhandling as multicast communications.

Various embodiments and functionality of the ITMMS 130 and the PMMS 140are described more fully in FIGS. 4-6. Each of FIGS. 4-6 shows arespective flow diagram in context of an illustrative client device 120,ITMMS 130, PMMS 140, and content server(s) 180. Further, FIGS. 4-6 showvarious subsystems and components of the ITMMS 130 and/or PMMS 140 onlywhere useful to add clarity. Association of particular functionalitywith particular systems, components, etc. is intended only to addclarity and to illustrate certain implementations, and is not intendedto limit the functionality only to being performed by those systemsand/or components (e.g., other embodiments can be implemented in otherways).

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method 400 for setting upnew multicast groups for use in implementing efficient multicasthandover of a media channel offering, according to various embodiments.For example, in some implementations, the method 400 is performed onlythe first time particular content (e.g., a media channel offering) isrequested; for any subsequent request, the multicast groups are alreadyset up for that requested content, and such implementations can skip toFIG. 5, as described below. At stage 404, an client device 120 cantransmit a content request (e.g., a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP)request) for media content. The request can be received (e.g.,intercepted) by a media client manager 230 of an ITMMS 130. At stage408, the media client manager 230 can detect that the request is a “newmedia” request, indicating that the request is for a media channeloffering (e.g., one of an offered set of media channels, video ondemand, etc.) that is not already being multicast as a multicast groupon the carrier presently servicing the requesting client device (or itstransport craft 110). In the context of techniques described herein, itis assumed to be desirable to handle the new media request in a mannerthat facilitates multicasting of the requested channel offering andefficient handover of that multicast, as appropriate.

In some embodiments, at stage 412, embodiments of the media clientmanager 230 can forward the request to an appropriate content server180. This can be performed while multicast groups are being established,so that the requesting client device can begin to receive the requestedmedia from the media server 180 substantially immediately in response tothe request (e.g., as a unicast response), even though the multicastgroups are not yet established. For example, at stage 416, the contentserver 180 can receive the request and respond with the requested mediachannel offering content; and at stage 420, the requesting client device120 can receive the content from the content server 180 (e.g., as anHTTP response).

In response to detecting the new media request at stage 408, embodimentscan forward an implied request for the content to the PMMS 140 at stage424. The implied request can effectively be a multicast media requestcorresponding to the received request (e.g., unicast HTTP request) fromthe client device 120. For example, the media client manager 230 canintercept a unicast HTTP request from the client device 120 and canredirect the request, as a multicast media request, to the mediaprovider manager 240.

At stage 428, embodiments of the media provider manager 240 canestablish multicast groups for the media channel offering. As describedabove, establishing the multicast groups can involve setting up, foreach of a number of carriers, a multicast service data flow, a groupaddress within a service data flow, a multicast channel, or any othersuitable type of multicast group by which to multicast the media channeloffering over the corresponding carrier. The establishing can furtherinvolve allocating multicast resources to the multicast groups on thecarriers, such as carrier identifiers (e.g., satellite identifiers, beamnumbers, base station identifiers, etc.) and/or multicast groupidentifiers (e.g., multicast flow identifiers, control channel internetprotocol (IP) address, data channel IP address, etc.). According to someimplementations, establishing the multicast groups involves onlyallocating the resources without actually commencing the multicastcommunication (i.e., until a requesting client device 120 is in one ofthe carriers for which the multicast groups are established). In otherimplementations, establishing the multicast groups can includeallocating multicast resources and commencing multicasting of the mediachannel offering over one or more of the carriers (i.e., usingrespective one or more multicast groups).

In some embodiments, some or all multicast groups are established forone or more media channel offerings prior to receiving any impliedrequests for the channels offerings. For example, an airline can providefifty channels of linear programming to their passengers, and multicastgroups can be pre-established for some or all fifty channels (e.g., allchannels, the most popular channels, etc.) in some or all carriersservicing the airline (e.g., all carriers through which the airline'saircraft fly, the most frequently used carriers for that airline, allcarriers in the communications network, carriers through which theairline flies plus some or all adjacent carriers, etc.). In otherembodiments, the media provider manager 240 can establish some or allmulticast groups in some or all carriers for the requested media channeloffering at stage 428 in response to the media provider manager 240detecting the media request at stage 408. In such embodiments, the mediaprovider manager 240 can commence multicasting the media channeloffering on at least the multicast group established for the carrierpresently servicing the requesting client device 120. In someembodiments, content request can be supported in a manner that is notlimited only to a discrete set of media channel offerings, and thoserequests can be handled in the same or other ways. For example, the sameexample airline described above may offer, in addition to the linearprogramming channels, support for normal Internet browsing, mediastreaming from other sources, etc. In certain implementations, anyrequest for content other than one of the linear programming channelscan be handled as a non-media request (i.e., even if the request is formedia content, it is not handled using implied content requests and/orother techniques described herein). In other implementations, asdescribed above, the media client manager 230 can determine whetherclient requests should be treated as media requests.

Having established the multicast groups at stage 428, the media providermanager 240 can announce the multicast groups (e.g., a table, or anyother data format, including any suitable identifiers, etc.) to themedia client manager 230. The announcement can be a unicast (ormulticast) message to the ITMMS 130, a control message communicated on acontrol channel, or any other suitable communication. The announcementcan be sent to any suitable set of ITMMSs 130. For example, theannouncement can be sent to the ITMMS 130 of the transport craft 110where the requesting client device 120 is disposed, to the ITMMSs of alltransport crafts 110 in the same carrier, to all ITMMSs 130 in anycarrier for which a multicast group has been established for the mediachannel offering, to all ITMMSs 130 in the network, etc.

At stage 432, the media client manager 230 can receive the announcementand can update a local list of multicast group information. For example,the media client manager 230 can record multicast group identifiers formultiple carriers and can update a local media stream whitelist. Themedia stream whitelist can identify (e.g., to the media client manager230) whether a request invokes a media channel offering for whichmulticast groups have already been established. For example, it can beassumed that, at stage 408, the requested media channel offering is notin the whitelist of the media client manager 230, so that the mediaclient manager 230 can determine that it is appropriate to generate andforward an implied request to the PMMS 140 in a manner consistent withestablishing new multicast groups for the media channel offering. Forthe sake of illustration, a passenger requests “movie” via an clientdevice 120. After the whitelist is updated at stage 432, any subsequentrequest for “movie” can automatically be treated as a media channeloffering request (i.e., and handled using multicast techniques).

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method 500 for providingmedia channel offerings over pre-established multicast groups, accordingto various embodiments. In some embodiments, the method 500 is acontinuation of the method 400 of FIG. 4. For example, reference “A” isshown in FIGS. 4 and 5 to indicate that stage 504 of method 500 canfollow (e.g., immediately or after some time) stage 432 of method 400.At stage 504, an client device 120 (e.g., the same client device 120described with reference to FIG. 4 or any client device 120 incommunication with an ITMMS 130 that received a multicast groupestablishment announcement at stage 423 of FIG. 4) can transmit acontent request (e.g., a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) request)for media content. The requests at stage 404 and 504 can besubstantially the same (e.g., both unicast HTTP requests).

The request can be received (e.g., intercepted) by the media clientmanager 230 of the ITMMS 130. Similar to stage 408 of FIG. 4, the mediaclient manager 230 can detect, at stage 508, that the request is a mediarequest. However, unlike in stage 408, the request is detected in stage508 to invoke a media channel offering that is already being multicastas a multicast group on the carrier presently servicing the requestingclient device (or its transport craft 110). The detecting can involvedetermining that the requested media channel offering is in thewhitelist of the ITMMS 130. For example, the requested media channeloffering is the same media channel offering for which multicast groupswere previously established in stage 428 of FIG. 4, and which was addedto the whitelist of the ITMMS 130 at stage 432 of FIG. 4. Someimplementations can use multiple whitelists, or similar techniques, todifferentiate between new media requests (e.g., as in stage 408) andmedia requests associated with established multicast groups (e.g., as instage 508). For example, a first whitelist can include variousproviders, file types, and/or other indicators that the request is for“media channel offering” content; and a second whitelist can include theset of media channel offerings for which multicast groups are presentlyestablished (e.g., only the second whitelist is updated at stage 432).

At stage 512, embodiments of the media client manager 230 can forwardthe media request to the multicast client 235 of the ITMMS 130. Themulticast client 235 can convert the media request to a multicastrequest at stage 516 in a manner that exploits knowledge of theestablished multicast group for the carrier. For example, the multicastrequest communicated by the multicast client can include appropriatecarrier and multicast group identifiers. Embodiments of the multicastclient 235 are in communication with a multicast server 245 of the PMMS140, and the multicast client 235 can communicate the multicast requestto the multicast server 245 (e.g., using multicast protocols, etc.).

In some instances, the media request is for a portion of the mediachannel offering (e.g., a file, a byte range, etc.) that has not yetbeen requested by any other clients in the carrier. For example, asmultiple ITM clients 120 consume the same multicast content, they mayeach tend to issue substantially concurrent requests for the sameportions of the content, and it can be desirable to ensure that only asingle copy of the content is multicast in response to those requests.Accordingly, some embodiments effectively aggregate the requests (e.g.,by collecting requests, by ignoring all but a first request, etc.) Asillustrated, at stage 518, a determination can be made as to whether therequest is the first request for a particular portion of the mediachannel offering. If not, it can be assumed that the requested portionis already being multicast to the multicast group (of which therequesting ITM client 120 is a part), and the request can be ignored atstage 519. If this is the first request for particular content, at stage520, the multicast server 245 can transmit the received multicastrequest (e.g., as a unicast HTTP request, or in any other suitablemanner) to an appropriate content server 180. At stage 524, the contentserver 180 can receive the request and respond with contentcorresponding to the media channel offering. The content server 180response can correspond with the multicast server 245 request (e.g., anHTTP unicast response to an HTTP unicast request, etc.).

At stage 528, the multicast server 245 can receive the content responsefrom the content server 180 and can send the received content as amulticast response to the multicast client 235. For example, sending themulticast response can involve converting an HTTP unicast communicationfrom the content server 180 to a multicast communication correspondingto the carrier and multicast group IDs associated with presentmulticasting of the requested media channel offering to the requestingclient device 120. At stage 532, the multicast response can be receivedby the multicast client 235.

In various embodiments, the multicast client 235 can coordinate with themedia client manager 230 and/or with a multicast cache server 220 in theITMMS 130 to provide an appropriate media response to the client device120. The various media channel offering communications can effectivelyoperate as unicast communications at the “ends” of the communications(i.e., from the perspective of the client devices 120 and the contentservers 180), while operating as specially handled multicastcommunications in the “middle” (i.e., as facilitated by interactionswith and between the multicast clients 235 and multicast servers 245).For example, the disposing the ITMMS 130 and the PMMS 140 in thecommunications path can permit the client devices 120 and the contentservers 180 to send and receive standard HTTP communications, whilepermitting media channel offering communications to exploit multicastgroups and features thereof.

In some embodiments, when the multicast client 235 receives themulticast response from the content server 180 via the multicast server245, the multicast client 235 can communicate a corresponding responsewith the content to at least the requesting client device 120 at stage532. In some implementations, multicast client 235 converts themulticast response to a protocol that corresponds to the protocol usedfor the transmitted content request in stage 504. For example, themulticast response can be converted to a standard, unicast HTTP responsefor communication with one or more client devices 120.

In some embodiments, the media channel offering communications can behandled locally when the requested content is already cached local tothe client device 120 (e.g., in multicast cache 225 of the transportcraft 110, as shown in FIG. 2). For example, the content request can beanalyzed (e.g., before or after being intercepted, characterized,forwarded, etc. at stage 408, 412, 508, 512, etc.) by a cache manager(e.g., the multicast cache server 220 or any other suitable component)to determine whether the requested content is available locally. If thecontent is locally cached, some embodiments can locally fulfill therequest by providing some or all of the requested content to therequesting client device 120 from the local cache. Such localfulfillment can be performed with or without also communicating thecontent request over the communications system (e.g., the requests andresponses are only sent over the carrier when the content is not locallycached).

In other embodiments, local caching can be exploited in conjunction withmulticast communications over the communications system. In some suchembodiments, the multicast server 245 maintains information about whatcontent is stored in a local cache (i.e., multicast cache 225 of FIG. 2)of the transport craft 110. For example, the multicast server 245 canmaintain a cache model that is updated in any suitable manner and at anysuitable times (e.g., by synchronization, by monitoring acknowledgementmessages, etc.). Based on analyzing the multicast request is receivedfrom the multicast client 235 and/or the content response received fromthe content server 180, embodiments of the multicast server 245 candetermine whether the requested content matches (or substantiallymatches) content in the local cache associated with the requestingmulticast client 235. In one implementation, the multicast server 245determines whether there is a match from the multicast request itself(e.g., by identifying the requested content, etc.) without involving thecontent server 180 (e.g., without ever communicating a correspondingcontent request to the content server 180). In another implementation,the matching determination is made after content is received from thecontent server 180. For example, the content request is communicated tothe content server 180 at stage 520, some or all content is received atstage 528 from the content server 180, and the multicast server 245determines from the received content whether there is a match withcontent already cached local to the requesting multicast client 235. Thecomparing can use file identifiers, content chunk (e.g., byte range)identifiers, fingerprints, or any other suitable manner of comparison todetermine whether there is a match.

In any of the above and/or other implementations, when there is a match,the multicast response communicated from the multicast server 245 caninclude indications of the matching, locally cached content. Forexample, rather than including the requested content, the multicastresponse can include directory locations where the content is locallycached, highly compressed instances of the matching portions of thecontent, and/or any other indication of the cache storage locations.When such a multicast response is received at stage 532, thecorresponding locally cached content can be retrieved from the localcache at stage 536. For example, the multicast client 235 can direct themulticast cache server 220 to retrieve appropriate content from themulticast cache 225.

At stage 540, the requested content (i.e., the media channel offeringcontent) can be received by at least the requesting client device 120.For example, the response can be received as a unicast HTTP response. Asdescribed above, the requested content can be received as content thatwas multicast over the carrier from the content source 180 and/or ascontent that was retrieved from a local cache in response to a matchingdetermination.

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method 600 for handling amulticast handover using pre-established multicast groups, according tovarious embodiments. The method 600 assumes that multicast groups havepreviously been established (at least in the new beam) for a mediachannel offering, and that at least one client device 120 (e.g., on atransport craft 110) is presently consuming the media channel offeringover a carrier in a multi-carrier communications system (e.g., as inFIGS. 1 and 2). For example, the method 600 can occur sometime aftercompletion of the method 400 of FIG. 4 and concurrent with iterations ofthe method 500 of FIG. 5.

At stage 604, the media client manager 230 can look up pre-establishedmulticast group information for a multicast group associated with themedia channel offering and the newly identified carrier. For example,the media client manager 230 maintains a lookup table of allpre-established multicast groups for all media channel offerings in allcarriers (e.g., received at stage 432 of FIG. 4), and/or any suitablesubset thereof. Stage 604 can be performed in response to any suitableindication to the media client manager 230 that a handover is desired.For example, the media provider manager 240 (e.g., or the transport pathpredictor 243, or any other suitable component) can detect that thetransport craft is in a location where a handoff is appropriate. Thelocation may be an overlap zone between the two carriers, or any othersuitable location.

At stage 608, the media client manager 230 and the media providermanager 240 can detect that a new carrier is being used to service theclient device 120 (e.g., or the transport craft 110 in which the clientdevice 120 is disposed), and can coordinate a handover to the newcarrier accordingly. For example, the transport craft 110 can becommunicating with the multi-carrier communications network over a firstcarrier, and the communications network can assign another carrier ofthe communications system to communicate with the transport craft 110.As described above, this can occur when the transport craft 110 moves toanother carrier coverage area and/or for other reasons. Any suitabletechniques can be used for handing off communications between carriers,such as techniques used for handling mobile terminal communications insatellite and cellular communications networks. As part of the handover,the ITMMS 130 (e.g., the media client manager 230) can learn theidentity of the new carrier. In some implementations, as part of thehandover, the media client manager 230 (or any suitable component of thetransport craft 110) can join a control channel, or the like, associatedwith the newly identified carrier (e.g., according to the lookupperformed in stage 604). In some embodiments, at stage 612, the mediaclient manager 230 and the media provider manager 240 can coordinatecache registration and/or other synchronizations.

Such techniques can avoid delays associated with the PMMS 140 detectingthat a new multicast group is needed, allocating resources to that newmulticast group, and notifying the requesting ITMMS 130 (and/or otherITMMSs 130) of the new multicast group identifiers and/or otherinformation. Thus, the multicast handover can occur coincident with thecarrier handover substantially without additional messaging over thenetwork. For example, embodiments can implement the whitelists (e.g.,the whitelists defining which media channel offerings have associatedpre-established multicast groups) in a manner that is contiguous acrossall (or all relevant) carriers. In such a way, when a request for a samemedia channel offering is received and analyzed (e.g., at a subsequentiteration of stage 508) following a carrier handover, the request canstill be identified as having associated pre-established multicastgroups. Further, the newly applicable multicast group information canimmediately be available for exploitation in multicast handling of themedia channel communications over the carrier. For example, a firstiteration of the method 500 of FIG. 5 (e.g., starting at page reference“A”) after the multicast handover can proceed in substantially the samemanner as the last iteration of the method 500 prior to the multicasthandover, substantially without intervening delay.

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram of an illustrative method 700 for multicasthandover in a multi-carrier communications system, according to variousembodiments. Embodiments of the method 700 can begin by receiving acontent request from a client device at stage 704. For example, theclient device can be one of a number of client devices 120 disposed in atransport craft 110 traveling sequentially through first and secondcarriers of the multi-carrier communications system (e.g., as describedwith reference to FIGS. 1-3). In other embodiments, the content requestcan be received from any suitable actual or synthetic requester. As oneexample, a synthetic request can be issued by a component of the PMMS140 and/or by a component of the ITMMS 130 (e.g., in anticipation offuture, actual requests by ITM clients 120). In another example, one ormore actual requests can be received by ITM clients 120 in communicationvia other ITMMSs 130, by other client devices in the carrier (e.g., noton a transport craft 110), and/or by any other suitable requester. Atstage 708, embodiments can determine that the content request is for amedia channel offering.

At stage 712, embodiments can establish a number of multicast groups,including a first multicast group of the media channel offering for thefirst carrier, and a second multicast group of the media channeloffering for the second carrier. As described above, the establishing atstage 712 can occur before (e.g., decoupled from when) the request isreceived at stage 704, or the establishing at stage 712 can occur after(e.g., in response to) the request received at stage 704. At stage 716,embodiments can notify the transport craft 110 of the first and secondmulticast groups prior to the transport craft 110 being serviced atleast by the second carrier (e.g., in some implementations, before thetransport craft is serviced by the first carrier). For example, thetransport craft 110 can be provided with (and/or can update) a table ofmulticast group identifiers associated with the media channel offeringacross multiple carriers.

At stage 720, some embodiments can direct multicast delivery of thechannel offering to the transport craft 110 in accordance with the firstmulticast group in response to receiving requests for the media channeloffering while the transport craft is serviced by the first carrier. Forexample, each time a subsequent request is received for content of themedia channel offering, the request is determined to be for a mediachannel offering having pre-established multicast groups, and therequest is handled according to the pre-established multicast groupinformation for the first carrier. At some time, a handover can occur.For example, at stage 724, a determination can be made as to whetherthere has been a handover to a second carrier. If not, the method 700can proceed with multicast handling of the media channel offeringrequests using the first multicast group information. If there has beena handover to the second carrier, subsequent requests for the mediachannel offering can be handled according to a multicast handover. Forexample, at stage 728, some embodiments can direct multicast delivery ofthe channel offering to the transport craft 110 in accordance with thesecond multicast group in response to receiving requests for the mediachannel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the secondcarrier.

The methods disclosed herein include one or more actions for achievingthe described method. The method and/or actions can be interchanged withone another without departing from the scope of the claims. In otherwords, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and/oruse of specific actions can be modified without departing from the scopeof the claims.

The functions described can be implemented in hardware, software,firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, thefunctions can be stored as one or more instructions on a tangiblecomputer-readable medium. A storage medium can be any available tangiblemedium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other tangible medium that can be usedto carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions ordata structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Disk and disc,as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc,digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray® disc where disksusually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers.

A computer program product can perform certain operations presentedherein. For example, such a computer program product can be a computerreadable tangible medium having instructions tangibly stored (and/orencoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or moreprocessors to perform the operations described herein. The computerprogram product can include packaging material. Software or instructionscan also be transmitted over a transmission medium. For example,software can be transmitted from a website, server, or other remotesource using a transmission medium such as a coaxial cable, fiber opticcable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wirelesstechnology such as infrared, radio, or microwave.

Further, modules and/or other appropriate means for performing themethods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and/orotherwise obtained by suitable terminals and/or coupled to servers, orthe like, to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methodsdescribed herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can beprovided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage mediumsuch as a CD or floppy disk, etc.), such that a user terminal and/orbase station can obtain the various methods upon coupling or providingthe storage means to the device. Moreover, any other suitable techniquefor providing the methods and techniques described herein to a devicecan be utilized. Features implementing functions can also be physicallylocated at various positions, including being distributed such thatportions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.

In describing the present invention, the following terminology will beused: The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referentsunless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example,reference to an item includes reference to one or more items. The term“ones” refers to one, two, or more, and generally applies to theselection of some or all of a quantity. The term “plurality” refers totwo or more of an item. The term “about” means quantities, dimensions,sizes, formulations, parameters, shapes and other characteristics neednot be exact, but can be approximated and/or larger or smaller, asdesired, reflecting acceptable tolerances, conversion factors, roundingoff, measurement error and the like and other factors known to those ofskill in the art. The term “substantially” means that the recitedcharacteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, butthat deviations or variations including, for example, tolerances,measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factorsknown to those of skill in the art, can occur in amounts that do notpreclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.Numerical data can be expressed or presented herein in a range format.It is to be understood that such a range format is used merely forconvenience and brevity and thus should be interpreted flexibly toinclude not only the numerical values explicitly recited as the limitsof the range, but also interpreted to include all of the individualnumerical values or sub-ranges encompassed within that range as if eachnumerical value and sub-range is explicitly recited. As an illustration,a numerical range of “about 1 to 5” should be interpreted to include notonly the explicitly recited values of about 1 to about 5, but alsoinclude individual values and sub-ranges within the indicated range.Thus, included in this numerical range are individual values such as 2,3 and 4 and sub-ranges such as 1-3, 2-4 and 3-5, etc. This sameprinciple applies to ranges reciting only one numerical value (e.g.,“greater than about 1”) and should apply regardless of the breadth ofthe range or the characteristics being described. A plurality of itemscan be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these listsshould be construed as though each member of the list is individuallyidentified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual memberof such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any othermember of the same list solely based on their presentation in a commongroup without indications to the contrary. Furthermore, where the terms“and” and “or” are used in conjunction with a list of items, they are tobe interpreted broadly, in that any one or more of the listed items canbe used alone or in combination with other listed items. The term“alternatively” refers to selection of one of two or more alternatives,and is not intended to limit the selection to only those listedalternatives or to only one of the listed alternatives at a time, unlessthe context clearly indicates otherwise. The term “coupled” as usedherein does not require that the components be directly connected toeach other. Instead, the term is intended to also include configurationswith indirect connections where one or more other components can beincluded between coupled components. For example, such other componentscan include amplifiers, attenuators, isolators, directional couplers,redundancy switches, and the like. Also, as used herein, including inthe claims, “or” as used in a list of items prefaced by “at least oneof” indicates a disjunctive list such that, for example, a list of “atleast one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC(i.e., A and B and C). Further, the term “exemplary” does not mean thatthe described example is preferred or better than other examples. Asused herein, a “set” of elements is intended to mean “one or more” ofthose elements, except where the set is explicitly required to have morethan one or explicitly permitted to be a null set.

Various changes, substitutions, and alterations to the techniquesdescribed herein can be made without departing from the technology ofthe teachings as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope ofthe disclosure and claims is not limited to the particular aspects ofthe process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means,methods, and actions described above. Processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or actions, presently existingor later to be developed, that perform substantially the same functionor achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding aspectsdescribed herein can be utilized. Accordingly, the appended claimsinclude within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or actions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multicast handover system in a multi-carrier communications system, the multicast handover system comprising: a media provider manager that operates to: determine, in response to receiving a content request from a client device of a plurality of devices disposed in a transport craft having a sequential transport path through coverage areas of first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system, that the content request is for a media channel offering; establish a plurality of multicast groups comprising a first multicast group of the media channel offering for the first carrier, and a second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier; and notify a two-way communication system of the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups prior to the transport craft being in the coverage areas of the first carrier and the second carrier; and a multicast server, in communication with the media provider manager, that operates to: direct multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft in accordance with the first multicast group, in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the first carrier; and direct multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft via the second multicast group, in response to receiving the communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the second carrier.
 2. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media provider manager operates to: establish the first and second multicast groups by allocating respective multicast resources in the first and second carriers; and notify the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups by notifying the transport craft of the respective allocated multicast resources.
 3. The multicast handover system of claim 2, wherein the allocated multicast resources defines at least one of a carrier identifier, a multicast flow identifier, a control channel address, or a data channel address.
 4. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the multicast server further operates to: detect that servicing of the transport craft is handed over from the first carrier to the second carrier; and direct the transport craft to join the second multicast group in response to the detecting.
 5. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the transport craft operates to join the second multicast group in response to detecting that servicing of the transport craft is handed over from the first carrier to the second carrier.
 6. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media provider manager further operates to: determine, prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier, that the second carrier is not multicasting the media channel offering, wherein the media provider manager operates to establish the second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier and in response to the determining that the second carrier is not multicasting the media channel offering.
 7. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein: the transport craft is a first transport craft; and the media provider manager operates to establish the second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier to service a second transport craft while the second transport craft is being serviced by the second carrier and prior to the first transport craft being serviced by the second carrier.
 8. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media provider manager operates to notify the transport craft of the second multicast group by communicating a message to the transport craft, the message identifying the second multicast group.
 9. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media provider manager comprises a processor and a non-transient computer-readable medium, the medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed, cause the processor to determine that the content request is for the media channel offering, establish the plurality of multicast groups, and notify the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups.
 10. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media channel offering comprises linear programming.
 11. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the multi-carrier communications system is a multi-beam satellite communications system.
 12. The multicast handover system of claim 1, wherein the media provider manager and the multicast server are disposed in a provider-side node of the multi-carrier communications system.
 13. A method for multicast handover in a multicarrier communications system, the method comprising: determining, in response to receiving a content request from a client device of a plurality of devices disposed in a transport craft having a sequential transport path through coverage areas of first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system, that the content request is for a media channel offering; establishing a plurality of multicast groups comprising a first multicast group of the media channel offering for the first carrier, and a second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier; notifying a two-way communication system of the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups prior to the transport craft being in the coverage areas of the first carrier and the second carrier; directing multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft in accordance with the first multicast group in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the first carrier; and directing multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft via the second multicast group, in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the second carrier.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein: the establishing the first and second multicast groups comprises allocating respective multicast resources in the first and second carriers; and the notifying comprises notifying the transport craft of the respective allocated multicast resources.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: detecting that servicing of the transport craft is handed over from the first carrier to the second carrier; and directing the transport craft to join the second multicast group in response to the detecting.
 16. The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining, prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier, that the second carrier is not multicasting the media channel offering, wherein the second multicast group is established prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier and in response to the determining that the second carrier is not multicasting the media channel offering.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the notifying comprises communicating a message to the transport craft that identifies at least one of the multicast groups.
 18. A multicast handover system in a multi-carrier communications system, the multicast handover system comprising: a transport path predictor that predicts a sequential transport path of a transport craft through coverage areas of first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system; a media provider manager that operates to: determine, in response to receiving a content request from a client device of a plurality of devices disposed in the transport craft, that the content request is for a media channel offering; establish a plurality of multicast groups comprising a first multicast group of the media channel offering for the first carrier, and a second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier; and notify a two-way communication system of the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier; and a multicast server, in communication with the media provider manager, that operates to: direct multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft in accordance with the first multicast group, in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the first carrier; and direct multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft via the second multicast group, in response to receiving the communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the second carrier.
 19. The multicast handover system of claim 18, wherein: the transport path predictor predicts the transport path of the transport craft as the transport craft is traveling sequentially through the coverage areas of the first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system, wherein the media provider manager operates to notify the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups in accordance with the predicted transport path.
 20. The multicast handover system of claim 18, wherein: the transport path predictor predicts, when the transport craft is being serviced by the first carrier, a set of candidate carriers of the multi-carrier communications system for subsequently servicing the transport craft, wherein the media provider manager operates to establish the plurality of multicast groups for the set of candidate carriers, the second carrier being one of the set of candidate carriers.
 21. The multicast handover system of claim 18, wherein the media provider manager further operates to: predict that the receiving of the media channel offering by the transport craft will continue after the transport craft is no longer serviced by the first carrier, wherein the media provider manager operates to establish the second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier when the transport craft is receiving the media channel offering via the first carrier and in response to the predicting.
 22. A method for multicast handover in a multi-carrier communications system, the method comprising: predicting a transport path of a transport craft as traveling sequentially through a coverage areas of first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system; determining, in response to receiving a content request from a client device of a plurality of devices disposed in the transport craft, that the content request is for a media channel offering; establishing a plurality of multicast groups comprising a first multicast group of the media channel offering for the first carrier, and a second multicast group of the media channel offering for the second carrier; notifying a two-way communication system of the transport craft of the first and second multicast groups prior to the transport craft being serviced by the second carrier; directing multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft in accordance with the first multicast group in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the first carrier; and directing multicast delivery of the media channel offering to the transport craft via the second multicast group, in response to receiving communications from the two-way communication system requesting the media channel offering while the transport craft is serviced by the second carrier.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein: the predicting is performed as the transport craft is traveling sequentially through the coverage areas of the first and second carriers of the multi-carrier communications system, and the notifying is in accordance with the predicted transport path.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein: the predicting comprises predicting, when the transport craft is being serviced by the first carrier, a set of candidate carriers of the multi-carrier communications system for subsequently servicing the transport craft, and the plurality of multicast groups is established to comprise the set of candidate carriers, such that the second carrier is one of the set of candidate carriers.
 25. The method of claim 22, further comprising: predicting that the receiving of the media channel offering by the transport craft will continue after the transport craft is no longer serviced by the first carrier, wherein the second multicast group is established when the transport craft is receiving the media channel offering via the first carrier and in response to the predicting. 